Justin Rose beat Simon Dyson and Soren Kjeldsen in a play-off to clinch the Volvo Masters and, in turn, a first Order of Merit crown.
Englishman wins out after dramatic end to the European season
Justin Rose edged out Simon Dyson and Soren Kjeldsen in a three-man play-off to clinch the Volvo Masters and, in turn, a first European Order of Merit crown.
The Englishman had looked to be cruising to victory midway through the final round at Valderrama before a horror four-hole spell saw him surrender the lead.
He regained his composure sufficiently to ensure he ended level with playing partner Dyson and Kjeldsen, despite a bogey at the last, and headed into the play-off knowing he had clinched the Order of Merit title having finished two shots clear of Padraig Harrington who ended in a tie for fourth with Graeme McDowell.
That seemed to lift the pressure from the 27-year-old's shoulders and, after all three men had made pars at the first play-off hole, he claimed outright victory at the second with a birdie three.
It proved to be a fitting climax to the season with a suitably dramatic end to yet another enthralling chase for the much coveted European number one spot.
It had initially seemed that Rose would enjoy a serene passage to both prizes as he produced measured golf to move to five-under, maintaining a healthy advantage at the top of the leaderboard.
However, the pressure began to tell on the back nine and his position of seeming invincibility suddenly looked decidedly less solid as he produced a double-bogey seven at the par-five 11th after making a mess of a fairway bunker shot.
Further bogeys then followed at both 13 and 14 to drop him back to one-under and when Harrington, in the group ahead, birdied the 15th he was within a shot of the faltering Rose and very much back in the hunt to retain his Order of Merit crown.
The action really started to hot up as holes ran out with Graeme McDowell producing an albatross two at the 17th to climb into a share of the lead before playing partner Kjeldsen birdied the same hole to move clear on two-under.
A birdie at 16 had drawn Dyson level with Rose at one-under and both men picked up another stroke at the 17th to draw level with Kjeldsen.
The Dane cracked at the last with a bogey-five setting the clubhouse target at one-under with McDowell falling by the wayside with a closing double-bogey six.
A dramatic finale to the 72 holes was completed when Rose, following an errant drive, got up and down for a bogey to match Kjeldsen's total - thus securing the Order of Merit - with Dyson following him in for a five to join the play-off.
But, fittingly, it was Rose who emerged triumphant at the second extra hole (the 10th) as he sunk a 15-footer for birdie, his win confirmed when Dyson saw his effort to extend the play-off dribble past on the low side.
A delighted, but clearly drained Rose commented afterwards: "I am emotional right now. It was a hard day. I looked like losing and dug deep.
"I'm sure there's an easy way to do this stuff, but it was terrible. I made a couple of mental errors and even saw the Order of Merit slipping away."
